Barry used her second State of Metro address, held outside Bridgestone Arena, to say she is moving forward with plans for affordable housing, transit and education.
Shelley Mays/USA Today Network - Nashville

Vice Mayor David Briley has assigned new committee chairs for the next year on the Metro Council, moves that include changing up leadership on the powerful Budget and Finance Committee.

Briley has appointed Councilwoman Tanaka Vercher as Budget and Finance Committee chairman to replace At-large Councilman John Cooper, who held the position for the past year.

Vercher, a second-year councilwoman representing District 28 in southeast Nashville, had previously served as vice chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, which is tasked with taking up the mayor's proposed budget each year and all funding ordinances.

Cooper has been a leading critic of multiple projects pushed by Mayor Megan Barry's administration, including the proposed Cloud Hill mixed-use development that is on the table for the site of Metro-owned Greer Stadium.

But over the past year, he frequently stood alone on his committee in opposition to several of the mayor's proposals.

Examples include city incentives approved for a new headquarters for LifeWay, incentives for Gaylord's future water park near Oprlyand, and the land deal for pedestrian bridge in the Gulch and SoBro neighborhoods. Cooper opposed each but they all breezed through the Budget and Finance Committee and later the full council.

Buy Photo

Vice Mayor David Briley listens to councilmembers during a metro council meeting at City Hall in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The Metro Council voted on an ordinance regarding civil immigration laws.(Photo: Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean)

In an announcement Friday, Briley said that committee chairs this past year demonstrated they "take seriously the confidence that the voters of Nashville placed in them" and shepherded through some significant legislation."

"I especially want to thank Councilman John Cooper who, as chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, has challenged us all to be more thoughtful and rigorous as we spend the people’s resources," Briley said in a statement. "The transparency and inclusion that he has incorporated into the budget process will serve the city well for years to come. I look forward to another great year from this council and its committee chairs."

It is customary for the vice mayor to annually assign new committee chairs. But upon taking office in 2015, Briley indicated that he might decide to keep more chairs installed from one year to the next than the past.

Briley has retained Councilman Jeremy Elrod as Public Works Committee chairman, for example, but has brought in new leaders to most committees.